Did Theater Critics Flood New Musical The Ark with Praise?

Michael McLean and Kevin's The Ark, a musical retelling of the watery biblical tale, opened at off-Broadway's 37 Arts Theatre on November 14. Did critics think it was a miracle?

Here is a sampling of what they had to say:

Rob Kendt in his Broadway.com Review: "With the exception of a few big numbers, most of this labored, lukewarm concoction, directed by Ray Roderick, plays like Sunday-school story-theater with higher production values. Beowulf Boritt's woodsy set of the ark's interior wraps up and around the house, and Ryan Powers' sound design scatters animal sounds throughout the theater. So far so good, but then there are Lisa L. Zinni's costumes, which give fair warning of the show's aesthetic chaos... It's hard to muster much amusement, even of the ironic sort, at The Ark's flimsy pieties and still flimsier stabs at irreverence... McLean's score, played with dutiful competence by music director Joseph Baker's onstage band, churns through its pedestrian pop changes, with occasional glimmers of melodic inspiration effectively dimmed by his and Kelly's plodding lyrics 'And now we're here in the middle of/Something that's bigger than both you and me'."

Miriam Horn of The New York Times: "As family entertainment with a religious flavor, The Ark may win fans. But as musical theater, it largely fails... The music is loud and simple enough to appeal to children but lacks distinction, while the lyrics are repetitive and banal. And though the performers all have competent voices, they oversell the songs. Most lean heavily on shtick, particularly Adrian Zmed, a television and film actor who has performed in Las Vegas and gives Noah a slouchy, lounge-lizard style. One actor does transcend the kitsch: Annie Golden is tender and funny as Noah's wife, Eliza."

Marilyn Stasio of Variety: "Besides looking spiffy, no one is less than vocally respectable in the simplistic roles that define this model family, and some are standouts. Freeman has the best pipes; Golden puts the most heart into her belter blues number; and Bonds tackles the defiant Ham with such conviction that he almost humanizes his clichéd character. The problem is, these hard-working thesps are condemned to sing their hearts out over matters that are either inane closet space, irrelevant the tribulations of young marrieds or hackneyed bossy fathers and restless sons. Whenever the creatives do manage to hit on some issue that lands outside the box--like the conflict between men of faith and men of action--the derivative music and simplistic lyrics suck the juice out of it. The score... suffers from a severe case of Disney envy--here defined as the notion that dull people with conventional domestic problems and limited vocabularies achieve heroic stature when clothed in archetypal trappings."

Zachary Pincus-Roth of Newsday: "Since the Bible doesn't say much about what happens on the ark, the musical's book and lyrics writers, Michael McLean and Kevin Kelly, fill time by giving everyone something to complain about... None of this griping is compelling, convincing or humorous... McLean's Stephen Schwartz-like, pop-gospel music is nothing special and is not well served by the embarrassingly direct lyrics. 'I hate the rain / It's driving me insane' sounds like something out of a Mel Brooks parody."